New figures released by the Office for National Statistics suggest that being married halves the danger of being the victim of domestic violence in comparison to other family structures.
Around 3.8 million adults in England and Wales (roughly seven per cent) are believed to have experienced domestic abuse within the 12 months ending March 2025.
When the family circumstances of abuse cases, married families accounted for the bottom percentage of abuse cases, with just 4.4 per cent of abuse victims being married.
Over a 3rd (39 per cent) of all abuse cases involved individuals who were either separated or divorced, while 8.8 per cent involved individuals who were cohabiting. The data suggests that marriage, removed from being a canopy for abuse and oppression, is the truth is the safest relationship an individual could possibly enter into.
The dangers of abuse could be deadly, particularly for kids. One study in Pediatrics suggested that children living with an unrelated adult were 50 times more more likely to be killed than those living with each biological parents.
This was demonstrated most starkly throughout the Covid lockdowns when various children and babies were killed.
Arthur Labinjo-Hughes, Lola James, Star Hobson, Finley Boden, Jacob Crouch, Logan Mwangi, Harvey Borrington and Sebastian Kalinowski were all killed under cover of the lockdowns. In all but one case, a stepparent or partner was involved within the killing.
Dr Tony Rucinski, of the Coalition for Marriage, said the most recent data bucks the favored narrative that marriage is oppressive.
“For years a ‘gendered narrative’ has heavily shaped the official debate on domestic violence, painting the normal family as dangerous and ‘patriarchy’ as the basis of abuse. That dogma will not be just misleading, it’s dangerous. The official figures tell a really different story, one which points back to real marriage,” he said.
Other research has suggested that the presence of a father in the house provides a positive role model to boys. Without such a job model, boys usually tend to grow up and turn into men who commit domestic violence.
Dr Rucinski continued, “Good fathers should not decorative. They are one of the powerful long‑term protections against violence we find out about … Marriage between one man and one woman, lived out in faithfulness, quietly teaches sons how one can be men and daughters what to anticipate from men.”
He added, “The hard numbers are pushing back towards a really old truth. On average, the safest place for girls is a stable marriage to a person who keeps his guarantees. The safest place for men and for kids is identical.”
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